Engaging developers on genuinely affordable homes

A bold new protocol clearly sets out how the Council will work with developers and reaffirms the Council’s ambitions for delivery of social homes for rent in Wandsworth.

The protocol was launched by Leader of the Council, Simon Hogg, at a lunch meeting last Thursday (2 November).

Councillors met with representatives from the development industry at the Wandsworth Town Hall to set out how best to build more social housing in the borough.

The aim of the meeting was to set an understanding from both sides as to how the process for building more affordable housing could be improved, but also to show the willingness and welcoming nature of the council for investment and growth. 

Higgins Group is one of Wandsworth’s development partners and has recently agreed a deal to convert private housing on one of their sites into genuinely affordable social rented homes.

Declan Higgins, Higgins Group CEO, said:

“Following a successful partnership arrangement with Wandsworth Council we were pleased to attend the Developer Briefing to see the launch of Wandsworth Council’s Developer Protocol.”

“The protocol clearly defines the council’s key objectives and provides a great overview of the partnership approach we’ve adopted at the former Atheldene Health Centre, a development that delivers 83 genuinely affordable, sustainable homes alongside a high quality NHS facility.”

Building better relationships with developers for the sake of residents is crucial to setting the tone for how more social housing can be built with the community at the forefront of everyone’s mind. 

Darragh Hurley, Managing Director at Mount Anvil, said:

“At Mount Anvil, we welcome Wandsworth Council’s commitment to ensuring new development provides benefits for local people.”

 “We believe that our best chance of building the number of high quality new social rented homes that Londoners need is through partnership. So we really welcome the open, collaborative approach that Wandsworth is taking to engaging and sharing their priorities and ways of working”.

The protocol is a list of 10 statements that set out the council’s commitments to and expectations from developers working in the borough.

Councillor Simon Hogg, Leader of Wandsworth Council, said: “The meeting was a great opportunity for the council to clearly convey our position on building social rent homes. We understand that this is a two-way conversation, and it is important to strengthen relationships with property developers

“The protocol allows us, as a council, to be clear about how we intend to work with developers to deliver desperately needed affordable homes to local people, but also to understand their needs.”

Aydin Dikerdem, Cabinet Member for Housing said: “We want to do things differently when it comes to building affordable housing. By putting residents’ needs at the heart of decision making we can ensure that communities are cared for and can fully benefit from the work of developers.

“This council is committed to working towards being a fairer borough and meetings like this will enable us to take steps to achieving that goal.”